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Since the National BVD eradication programme was launched in 2013, there has been a steady decline in the number of positive cases of BVD.
Every year, there have been over two million calves tested.
So far in 2017, by week 49, some 2,257,467 (2.26m) tests have been carried out.
The percentage of these which have so far tested negative for the virus is 98.87%, with just 0.12% positive, a further 0.01% inconclusive on a first test and 1.01% of samples found to be empty when opened in the lab.
The eradication scheme is based on taking a tissue sample from a calf’s ear at time of tagging, with the tissue sample immediately sent to an approved lab for testing.
If a calf is identified as being a PI (persistently infected), it is culled to help stop the spread of the disease.
Testing
At present, there are 11 labs which test ear tissue samples for BVD. All of them accept samples from Mullinahone tags because it has been supplying tags to farmers for many years. From last year, two other companies won approval to start selling tags: Cormac Tagging and Datamars.
The arrival of these new companies with different brands of tag has required the various labs to invest in new machinery and equipment and train staff so as to be able to handle these tags.
The investment can be considerable, with one company telling the Irish Farmers Journal it has invested over €80,000 in new equipment to be able to handle all three tag brands now on the market.
However, given the success of the BVD eradication scheme in lowering prevalence of the disease in cattle herds, some smaller labs were not in a position to make such large investments in equipment and training. After all, the aim of the scheme is to eradicate BVD and if it is successful then at some stage full testing will cease.
At present, five labs can test tissue samples from all three brands of tag on the Irish market.
Two labs can test Mullinahone and Cormac tags, while four labs offer testing of Mullinahone’s Allflex tags only.
In the future, these labs will therefore be focusing their attention on addressing other infectious diseases, eg testing for Johne’s via milk samples.
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